1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to the field of removal and recovery of certain ions or metal compounds from brines, more particularly to the separation of manganese ions or manganese containing compounds from brines.
2. Description of the Related Art
Geothermal brines, such as those found in the Salton Sea, typically include various valuable metal ions, such as silver, manganese and zinc, dissolved therein. For example, the geothermal brines of the Salton Sea include about 500 mg/L of zinc and about 2000 mg/L manganese dissolved therein. Recovery of these metals, as well as others, is desirable.
Current methods for the separation and recovery of manganese from brines and other solutions that include manganese includes precipitation using Ca(OH)2. This process, however, is typically not very selective and can lead to the co-precipitation of other multi-valent metal ions. This in turn requires multiple process steps to separate the various metal ions to produce manganese of a desired purity.
In this regard, methods for the economical removal and recovery of high purity manganese from manganese containing solutions, such as geothermal brines, are needed.